Devices at present in use for the analysis of absorbed gases, for example in the blood, utilise a gas permeable membrane manufactured from a polymeric material. This gas permeable membrane is mounted at one end of a flexible capillary tube which is connected, at its other end, directly to the analysis chamber of a mass spectrometer. Gases diffusing across the permeable membrane pass into the evacuated interior of the capillary and so to the mass spectrometer for analysis.
The devices at present in use suffer from a number of disadvantages, some of which are:
1. The permeability of polymers differs significantly for each gas species. Because of this, certain operation modes for the mass spectrometer/probe system, which can give greater accuracy and stability, are precluded when a polymeric membrane is employed.
2. The activation energy of diffusion is relatively high for polymer materials so that significant changes in permeability can occur over a temperature range of only a few degrees. Correction for temperture changes is difficult since the activation energy is different for each component of the diffusant gas.
3. The devices are subject to variations in the permeability of the polymeric membrane due to wetting of the surface, deposition of substances, for example protein and other particular contaminants, and to physical deformation of the polymer resulting from the absorption of water vapour (in the in vivo case).
By practice of the present invention, one or more of the above disadvantages may be overcome or substantially eliminated.